Disclaimer: Naruto and every character of the Naruto universe belongs to Kishimoto Masashi and companies I don't know.
Original upload date: 26/02/2013
Last update: NA
Chance for a Prophecy
Chapter 9. – Promise of a Toad
The breeze was slowly stroking the grass on the training ground in the forenoon sunlight, forcing the living sea to wave gracefully like the never ending emerald ocean. At the shores of the green sea, four figures were sitting next to a cliff, waiting impatiently for the remaining member of the team to finally appear.
"I told you to grab him at his home!" Toroku muttered behind his folded arms, which were rested on his tucked knees. Minato only rolled his eyes in response.
"We could start without him. Kakashi can wait. You promised me a spar Aniki."
"I didn't."
"Yes you did!"
"No…"
"If you're going to continue this, then I'm going to place you two under a genjutsu until Kakashi arrives. Jeez. Act your age," Jiraiya muttered in the background while Rin's soft chuckle could be heard behind the irritated blond teen. Toroku only muttered something incoherent in response and pulled out a scroll, ink and a soft calligraphy brush from his vest's pouch.
"What are you doing?" Minato leaned over his shoulder to examine the open scroll in his lap.
"I'm bored and I want to finish this seal."
"Another barrier seal?"
"Sort of…" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and moved closer to sneak a peek at the scroll.
"That's a trap…" The toad sennin had stated calmly and pointed toward the patters with a grimace on his face.
"And it won't work with this wonky design." Toroku narrowed his eyes and turned toward the sannin.
"It will…I'm not an amateur. Why is the pervert even here?" Jiraiya snorted and turned away from the blond, sulking like a five year old.
"To watch you spar…" Minato slowly shook his head but his eyes were fixed on the fine design. It was unusual as almost all of his previous works, but he was certain that would work. A confused expression appeared on his fine features when his eyes moved to the upper part of the design.
"What will it do with the captives?" Toroku made a cocky smile and turned back to his scroll.
"It will suck their chakra coils dry."
"Then why do you use the lightning here and there? It makes no sense to me." Minato had pointed to several parts of the seal frowning in his confusion.
"That is for a little surprise," he stated with a wicked tone chuckling to himself and earning a raised eyebrow from Jiraiya. Minato slowly stroked his chin eyeing the design carefully from stroke to stroke, lost in his thoughts for a long minute.
"I see now…That is quite a massive trap." Toroku only shrugged, then suddenly flung his head to the side.
"It was really time for that." Toroku muttered and quickly took away his sealing kit and moved a few steps away from the others. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and his mouth fall open when next to Toroku, Kakashi appeared with a Sunshin and he was immediately greeted with a snap on his crown.
"You are late!" Kakashi rubbed his throbbing head and sent an angry look to Toroku while he moved toward the small group, greeting everyone around.
"Jiraiya-sama." Kakashi made a small bow toward the sennin who answered with a nod and turned to Minato.
"So, can we start?"
"Start what exactly?" Kakashi raised a questioning eyebrow.
"You got your re-match Kakashi." An unexpected smirk spread across Kakashi's always stoic face under his mask and he turned toward the blond teen, who had just raised an eyebrow and folded his arms in front of his chest.
Five minutes later the two teens were facing each other in the center of the clearing. Kakashi moved to stance with an unfolded Sharingan, while Toroku remained still, carelessly and confidently watching his partner.
"Sharingan?" Jiraiya glanced toward Minato, who just nodded in return, but he couldn't miss Rin's darkening eyes and the sad expression on her mostly gentle and kind face.
"I see…" The sannin let out a sigh and turned toward the two teens and shout out, "Stay in the clearing!" Toroku just waved a hand in response.
"So, can we start Kakashi-kun?" The teen chirped with a singing and cocky voice to his tensed partner, but he only nodded.
The blond let a smirk on his face and he jumped in front of Kakashi, immediately sending a kick toward his face, turning silkily like a dancer and a kunai appeared in his hands from his weapon pouch in the next moment. Suddenly two clones appeared next to him, forcing the jonin to back off from the center and the preponderance. The scarecrow had sent a shuriken toward the nearest clone, who puffed out from existence when the sharp metal connected with his stomach. His place was immediately filled with another clone, who jumped toward Kakashi only to repeat his predecessor's fate a minute later by another shuriken.
"No hand signs?" Jiraiya stated calmly, watching the intense taijutsu, his eyes fixed mostly on Toroku's movements.
"No. Nor does he use signs with any of the wind element ninjutsu he showed until now." Jirayya only hemmed in response as he watched the blond perform a perfect backflip, to land on his right arm and send a kunai toward Kakashi with his left hand without a stop in his flow, before he jumped to his feet, and immediately launched himself toward the jonin again.
"He's got an interesting fighting style."
"Indeed. A total mixture. Effective and hardly predictable…and he improved a lot in his taijutsu. Last time Kakashi could countervail him without his sharingan, by speed and also by the effectiveness of his style."
"You think so?" The two men twist backward to face a smirking Toroku, who stepped between the two men and folded his arms in front of his chest, eyeing the ongoing taijutsu battle with the newly appeared five clones.
"I practice a lot lately you know. I uncovered lot of new moves and with that my speed also increased a lot. But I feel something big is still missing from my fighting style…"
Minato frowned and hit the teen hard on the head, who disappeared with a loud puff, leaving behind a small, puffy chakra cloud between the two men. A furious snort could be heard almost immediately from the middle of the clearing, and the blonds around Kakashi who weren't occupied with their opponent turned their heads and look at Minato with an indignant expression. One of the nearest pointed a finger toward him, his eyes narrowed and his eyebrows moved to one coherent line.
"Hey! Don't bully the clones! There was a reason he was there!" The yelling Toroku disappeared when Kakashi send a kunai into his chest. Jiraiya chuckled at the scene and glanced at Minato from the corner of his eyes.
Kakashi jumped backwards and ran his hands though a chain of seals, to slash his hands into the earth as soon as he made contact with the soil.
"Raiton: Jibashi (Lightning Style: Earth Flash)"
The ground filled with electricity. The attack ran through the clearing with a loud chirping sound, dismissing the clones in its way, moving toward the last group of blonds. Two clones grabbed Toroku's hand and threw him up in the air to avoid the attack before it could reach him, flying gracefully toward the still crouching Kakashi. When the jutsu hit them, they jerked but after a moment they disappeared with a puff of smoke. Toroku in the meanwhile ran through some hand seal in the midair, breathed a fair amount of air and spit out a massive amount of water toward Kakashi within a blink of an eye.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu! (Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique)"
The water hit him before he could release his own jutsu. When the water contacted him, the lightning chakra ran through his own system, forcing Kakashi's muscles to squeeze. Fortunately he was able to release the attack after a moment, but the feeling was enough to distract his senses and numb his muscles. Toroku landed gracefully in front of him with a loud splash in a puddle of remaining water. Kakashi narrowed his eyes and disappeared with a puff of smoke, leaving behind a frowning Toroku, to face with a log. He stiffened as he felt a hand around his ankles and his eyes meet with a probably grinning Lightning Clone.
"Shit…"
The clone exploded into millions of electric sparks which were now racing inside his nerves, forcing his muscles to clench painfully and his teeth and eyes to cling tightly. When the release finally died down, Toroku wobbled a step backward and grabbed his hair and ruffled it hysterically.
"I hate lightning releases you shrimp! I'm going to beat you into the ground for that, you got that!?"
The blond teen calmed himself down, moved to a relaxed stance and closed his eyes to sniff the air. A questioning grimace appeared on his face, then the two men stiffened and Rin flinched at the shore of the clearing when a massive amount of chakra reached them as Toroku spread out his chakra, to detect the silver haired jonin. A satisfied smile appeared on his face, and opened his eyes slowly as he ran through a long chain of hand seals. When he finished, he closed his eyes again, waiting for a moment, then stomped the ground with his foot.
"Katon: Keshi Makuga Hara (Fire Release: Exploding Flame Crater)!"
A crack ran through in the soil of the training ground toward a certain point where it divided in two running in different directions, forming a perfect circle. Toroku snapped his hands together when the two lines connected and the earth inside the circle immediately disappeared with an explosion, filling the air with dust and the ground with soil. Toroku mumbled something and closed his eyes again, his right eye twitching continuously.
"If you want to play hide and seek Kakashi, you've chosen the wrong person," he stated when he finally opened his eyes.
The young man slowly crouched down and placed his right hand onto the ground, closing his eyes and sending a massive amount of chakra into the ground below him. The soil exploded like a volcano not far away from the crater caused by his previous attack and Kakashi burst out from the hole, followed by five blond clones. Kunai clenched and shuriken flew across the clearing as the silver haired jonin dismissed his attackers one by one, sending a quick glance at the still crouching blond while evading the clones. His eyes narrowed when he noted that Toroku's eyes were still closed and two clones appeared next to him, while the real one suddenly ran through a long chain of hand signs and place his hands down again. His eye never opened as the two clones placed their hands into his shoulders. Kakashi's eyes widened when the meaning of the hand signs reached his brain and the sharingan interpret the chakra flow from the three blonds, but he didn't have time to move.
"Gekijou no Gaia (Gaia's wrath)!"
The ground exploded around him, and the jonin found himself in the middle of a tornado. The wind swirling with insane speed, picking up leafs and small branches from the ground and mixing them in the whirlwind around him only to disappear into dust milliseconds after making connection with the razor sharp wind chakra. Kakashi felt as a static charge reached his side from the wind wall with a chirping noise, and the sweet scent of rain and wet soil hit his sensitive nose. He snapped his hand together, running through hand signs with insane speed, blurring his movements. But before he could finish, thunder echoed inside the clearing and a thunderbolt slammed into the ground, forcing him to halt the remaining hand signs and jump backward to avoid the insanely fast attack. Another lightning strike hit his other side at the moment his feet made connection with the ground, forcing him to evade once more only to reassert his motion again less than a millisecond later, leaving no time for him to counterattack or escape from the trap.
Jiraiya slowly tapped his chin and folded his arm together, watching the scene with narrowed eyes. He glanced toward Minato from the corner of his eyes, to see a similar expression on his face, which slowly turned into an amused look.
"Could you do that Jiraiya?" The sannin turned back to the scene and slowly shook his head.
"Mixing together three elements in one attack…that is just… insane… Manipulating the form, the element, mixing it together, while also separating them to utilize each one's strengths in one time…Wind to separate the victim, water as a conductor and lightning to strike…and that is a fourth element isn't it?" Minato only nodded fixing his eyes on the scene not leaving it even for a moment, examining every little detail of the attack. He saw the sheer concentration on the three faces, the control to manipulate the elements, the shapes, and to cut down the attack to a safer level. The almost Hokage narrowed his eyes when a scene popped into his mind of a possible outcome if the teen put a really massive amount of chakra into it.
"This attack could wipe out a smaller village at full power…" Minato nodded, not surprised by Jiraiya's same thoughts.
Kakashi braced himself and finally was able to finish the hand seals. The scarecrow narrowed his eyes and slammed his hands onto the ground, between two lightning strikes.
"Raiton: Jibashi (Lightning Style: Earth Flash)!"
Electricity ran through the soil, this time in a zigzag line toward the blonds, not spreading wide as before, forcing him to jump out of the way and releasing his hands from the ground together with the jutsu, which disappeared with a last loud thunder. A massive air pressure ran through the clearing, sending dust, leafs and debris toward the shores. Minato ran through a chain of hand signs, and smashed his palms forward with a stoic face, while Toroku mimicked his last movement without hand signs in the clearing only milliseconds after Minato.
"Futon: Kuuki hanmaa (Wind Release, Air Hammer)."
An invisible wall of wind slammed into the approaching air pressure, countering the aftereffects of Toroku's suddenly dismissed technique, leaving the three people and Toroku untouched by the massive amount of disappearing elemental chakra. Toroku glanced toward the small group with a worrying look, but his head flung back when he sensed the surging Kakashi.
The jonin jumped toward him, with a kunai in his hand. Toroku narrowed his eyes at the panting boy, and a grimace spread across his face when the metallic scent of blood reached his nose while he reflected another attack with a graceful movement of his hand, like he was just sweeping down some dust from his clothes. A small stream of the ruby red liquid ran down from Kakashi's hairline, painting it a funny pink color next to his ear. The damage was minor, not more than a deep scratch but the razor sharp wind chakra reached a place on his head full with capillary. Toroku jumped backward to escape from the intense taijutsu, leaving a heavily breathing Kakashi behind.
Toroku suddenly stiffened when the three tomoes started whirling slowly in the crimson eyes. Suddenly the blood froze in his veins, then immediately heat up, boiling like lava and his body started to tremble with rage. The world around him disappeared, when the genjutsu encompassed his body.
He immediately forced his chakra flow to stop completely, and a moment later, he let the weirs down, pushing a massive amount of chakra into his coils, letting it run wildly through his body, rushing toward the caster on the clearing. The reality hit his head hard when he opened his eyes and faced with a helplessly flying Kakashi in midair, who in the end finally managed to turn and land not very gracefully, staring back at him with shocked, wide eyes. Toroku slowly straightened himself. His voice lacked any hint of the accustomed warm and cheeky tone.
"Never…Never ever use that thing on me again…" Kakashi only slowly nodded with a shocked expression.
Minato narrowed his eyes, observing Toroku carefully. The amount of chakra he released was even more than the time back at the hospital five weeks ago. The blond turned his head to the side glanced toward the also shocked Rin, then his blue orbs moved back, examining Toroku's every small movement. He wasn't angry, nor threatening, he was calm and imperious. His emotionless, almost foggy eyes locked for a moment with his own, then he turned and made an anxious look toward the trembling Rin. The sparkling suddenly reappeared in the blue pools and the teen slowly scratched the back of his head.
"Sorry Rin, it was a little bit too much…" The girl's mouth fell open and her eyes widened.
"Too much?...Too much?" She slowly shook her head and let out a sigh.
Rin braced herself and forced her body to relax and send a nervous smile toward the blond earning an embarrassed chuckle from him while he scratched his cheeks. He turned back to the now sitting Kakashi to send a cheeky smile toward the jonin.
"So, I think the re-match is also mine." The teen only waved a dismissive gesture toward the blond and dropped himself back on the grass.
"You are a monster…" Toroku shrugged and smirked toward the laying jonin. He slowly stepped closer and offered his hand to the teen, who grabbed it and straightened himself, sweeping the dust and soil from his clothes desperately. The blond folded his hands behind his neck and moved toward the group on the other side of the clearing with a wide smirk, followed by Kakashi, who still trying to make his appearance less pathetic with his torn and dirty clothes.
Rin stepped next to the jonin, examining his head with narrowed eyes then moved her hands next to his temporal to heal the small wound. The silver haired boy let out a sigh as the warm, tingling sensation numbed his brain and relaxed his weary muscles. Toroku turned toward them, his hands still at the back of his head, curiously eyeing the teen in front of him, who closed his eyes to enjoy the warm healing chakra.
"You tricked my nose…" Kakashi slowly opened one of his eyes and a satisfied smirk spread across his face under his mask, but the expression was still recognizable.
"I prepared this especially for you."
"It was a nice move to cover your skin with a thin layer of chakra …However not only my nose is sensitive you know. But still. I wasn't expecting this." Kakashi only shrugged when Rin removed her hands from his head, turning to the blond, looking for any wound, but he was untouched. Not even sweaty or weary like Kakashi. Toroku stretched his hands above his head and turned to Minato with a cheeky smile.
"So, now that I finished the warm up, we can move to a more serious matter." He was grinning wild and Minato raised an eyebrow.
"Or you are just scared…" The blond rolled his eyes in response.
"Or your joints are hurting? Old man Ho-ka-ge…" Minato's right eye twitched and a satisfied smile appeared on Toroku's face. 'Bulls eye…'
"Oh, so that's it. Too old to fight." Jiraiya's face moved to a knowing smile when he saw Minato's right eye twitch again. 'Oh, now you've done it…'
"So be it…" Minato walked calmly into the center of the clearing and Toroku yelled in victory, punching in the air and jogged toward the blond with a wide and satisfied grin on his face.
"You can't use your permanent seal!"
"As you wish. Can we start?" Toroku only nodded in response, and immediately moved to stance, while Minato still standing casually, his hands dived into the pouch of his pants. Toroku narrowed his eyes, his muscles tensed, ready to jump.
However he hasn't got a chance to even flinch when he felt a palm slamming into the middle of his back, sending him flying toward a tree, passing beside the stoic Minato. He was able to turn in midair and land on the tree, parallel to the ground. He narrowed his eyes and rolled his shoulders to ease away the pain between them in his spine, eyeing two calmly standing Minatos in the middle of the clearing with a stoic expression on their faces, hands in their pockets. Toroku slowly crossed his fingers in front of his chest and a cocky smile ran across his face.
"Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique)!"
The clearing suddenly filled with blond locks as hundreds of clones appeared around them, earning a loud snort from Jiraiya and an emotionless stoic look from the two blonds as they slowly turned their heads, mapping the surroundings calmly. The original Minato slowly tilted his head from side-to-side letting his joints to pop and a wide, satisfied, almost animalistic smirk appeared on his fine features, immediately erasing Torokus cocky grin. 'I have a bad feeling…'
He couldn't even see when the two forms disappeared, his eyes and nerves couldn't transit the information fast enough, instead his head filled with the memories of consciously disappearing clones. Their confusion, the recalls of yellow flashes behind a disappearing clone flooding into his head without a pause as the copies popped out from existence one after another with insane speed, filling the field with massive chakra smoke and making his head spin and his mind dizzy and numb by the aggressive, continuous and confusing information flow.
Not even a minute later he found himself thrown down hard to the ground. The force knocked out the wind from his lungs while his body was pinned to the soil on his stomach by strong limbs. The clone of Minato forced his hands into a painful and awkward angle toward the blue sky, grasping his wrists while pushing his right leg painfully into his spine, forcing an unconscious and embarrassing whining sound out of his mouth as the remains of his breath left his lungs. The real Minato crouched and leaned close to his face with a still stoic expression.
"So, any complains Otouto?" He could feel when his blond locks brushed his cheeks and the warmth of his breath on his skin.
A painful gasp left his mouth as the clone forced his hands higher and he immediately shook his head. Minato nodded in satisfaction and smirked when he released his clone and the grasp on Toroku's wrists disappeared, causing his arm to fall down limply next to his lying body. The teen slowly rolled to his back, massaging his aching hand and frowning like a wild animal at Minato.
"You overdid it…"
"It was time to teach you some manners…"
"That was only because of your idiot permanent seal! You cheated!" Minato chucked and offered his hand to Toroku, who hissed when his weight pressed on his abused wrist.
"I wasn't using your existing mark." Toroku narrowed his eyes watching Minato carefully.
"I placed a temporary one when I hit you in the back." Toroku hummed and slowly started to walk back to the group, to face a knowingly smiling Jiraiya, a satisfied Kakashi and a worried Rin, who is now eyeing his red wrists.
"So, lesson learned gaki?" Toroku grimaced and pointed a finger toward Minato.
"Next time, I will kick your ass Aniki!" Jiraiya chuckled and turned to the teen.
"Every corner of this training ground was washed up with your blond locks in less than a minute, and you already ask for a re-match?" Toroku just hummed in response to Jiraiya and he slowly got rid of his chuunin vest, examining the ink black marking in the middle of its back with narrowed eyes.
"I just have to figure out how to get rid of his annoying Hiraishin…" Jiraiya snorted and rolled his eyes in response, while Minato chuckled.
"Good luck with that…"
"You know the title Hokage means the strongest shinobi of the village. It isn't just a fancy name," Kakashi stated calmly and moved his hitai-ate back over his sharingan.
"How is your wrists Toroku?" Rin slowly moved closer, eying his hands.
"Nah, it's okay, it will be as good as new in an hour. See? It doesn't even hurt anymore." He slowly hovered his joints and smiled back to Rin. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, knowing that Minato almost wrenched his wrists, but didn't make a comment. 'His healing abilities are really insane,' thought the white haired sannin.
"I think we are finished for today." Minato stretched his arms behind his back. "But before we leave I would like you to know why Jiraiya was even here to watch your little performance."
"Because he will be the new sensei of the team…" Toroku stated while turning to the sannin with a knowing look.
"Indeed. You will be in good hands, so don't be afraid." Toroku let out a snort and waved a hand toward Minato. He felt as his face moved to a sour grimace and turned away from the sad smile of Minato.
"Toroku…"
"I know…and I understand, so don't say a word." He let out a sigh and turned back with an obviously false grin on his face.
"I'm starving. Can we pick up something to eat?"
The new team dismissed from a barbecue house, leaving only Jiraiya, Minato and Toroku left with his full stomach. The teen leaned back, contentedly stroking his full and obviously bigger stomach with closed eyes. Minato chuckled at the scene while Jiraiya eyed him with an annoyed look.
"Boy, I really don't want to be the one who pays for your food." Toroku opened one of his eyes and stretched his feet and arms, forming an x with his body.
"Maybe I had starved a lot in my previous life." The teen only shrugged and leaned back again with closed eyes.
"You told me, that you regained a lot from your basic knowledge. However, you didn't show too much new." Minato asked and grabbed his bottle, then leaned also back to find a more comfortable position.
"That is true," Toroku only stated calmly without opening his eyes, but as he felt the eyes on himself, he opened them and leaned on his folded arms on the table in front of him.
"Most of my arsenal is quite…hmmm…radical. I couldn't use them on Kakashi." He folded his arms on the table to rest his chin on them, facing two pairs of raised eyebrow.
"What do you mean by radical?" Toroku let out a proud smile toward Jiraiya.
"I mean quite destructive." He frowned to himself "I will need to learn more lower level techniques, or sooner or later Kakashi will kick my ass if he find out how to deflect all of them…."
"Have you tried Doton?" Toroku nodded.
"Yeah, but I couldn't make any of them work properly." Minato narrowed his eyes. 'So four. Still, it is incredible.'
"I tried them yesterday with the Gekijou no Gaia (Gaia's wrath)." Minato frowned. He didn't received reports that Toroku was training yesterday.
"Toroku…Where did you train yesterday?
"Home…Every training ground was full again." Minato's eyes widened to an unnatural size, almost popping out.
"You tried out that jutsu in you apartment?! How on earth? Are you insane? You could blow up the entire house!" Toroku just waved a hand and a clone appeared next to him, to hand over a scroll from Toroku's own pocket, to disappear with an annoyed look on his face.
"You could beat a Nara in laziness…" Jiraiya murmured and Toroku only shrugged.
"I can't move, I'm too full."
Minato slowly opened the scroll and fixed his gaze on it, together with Jiraiya for long silent minutes. A barrier seal, perfectly designed, powerful enough to resist an S class technique and to mask its energy. 'No…' Minato frowned. It doesn't just simply dismiss or mask the attack's chakra, it uses it to maintain and strengthen itself, moreover it adapts to the level of the attack to equal its force, perfectly isolating every bit of chakra and sound within the barrier. He glanced at Jiraiya next to him and chuckled as he saw the wide eyes and the hanging mouth of his old sensei.
"I told you that he is better with barriers then me…or you." Toroku grinned at Minato and scratched his arm.
"I'm satisfied with the design, however it is quite a chakra eating bitch in this form during the first activation. I have to fix that later." The blond teen stated calmly eying the shocked Jiraiya with a satisfied smile on his face.
"Hey old man." Jiraiya immediately looked back at Toroku with narrowed eyes when he heard the address.
"You will slobber my seal…" The sannin snorted and leaned back.
"Impertinent shrimp." Toroku only grinned and turned toward the other blond.
"Minato. When can we finally go out for a mission?"
"Come to the Hokage tower tomorrow." The blond smiled back at him knowingly, while Jiraiya frowned at the statement. A satisfied smile ran across Toroku's face and he finally forced his body to get up from the table.
"Great. Then tomorrow." He turned and approached toward the door.
"And Toroku…" The teen turned back to meet a pair of familiar azure blue eyes.
"If you ever try out any jutsu inside any building…or if you even think about it…I will finish what I leave off today at the training ground. Understand?" The Hokage's voice was calm, but his eyes send a cold chill down his spines, forcing him to gulp and nodded with a scared face before leaving. Jiraiya kneeled to the table and turned toward his new leader.
"What mission?"
"An escort…I need someone who will guard the delegation to Suna." A half smile formed on Jiraiya's face.
"Suna? What a coincidence…" Minato smiled back at his old sensei knowingly.
"Maybe something will turn up from his past."
Four figures lined up in front of the desk facing Minato, a chunnin and Sarutobi the next morning. Minato smiled at Jiraiya while he handed over the mission scroll, the detailes of which had been discussed the previous night after Toroku left.
"The envoy will wait you at the village gates, exactly at ten o'clock. Don't be late. Kakashi, this mostly considering you." The jonin only rolled his eyes, but he restrained himself from a harsh reply.
"Toroku…you go there in incognito."
"Why?" The teen intensively frown at the statement.
"I got my reasons…You will be an ANBU during the mission." The blond only let out an annoyed grunt, and nodded, then a second later a cheeky smile ran across his face, forcing Minato's eye to twitch.
"Prohibited…"
"I didn't do anything!"
"But you thought about it. No more ANBU teasing."
Toroku frowned and a wordless fight started between the two blonds. His staring contest finally finished after half a minute and Toroku let out a disappointed sigh and nodded, murmuring about Hokage's go beyond their power and folded his arms in front of his chest, turning slightly away from Minato. The chuunin raised an eyebrow and Sarutobi let out a small chuckle, while Jiraiya cleared his throat and nodded toward the desk before he dismissed his new team to prepare for their trip.
The team gathered exactly at the announced time, surprisingly Kakashi also appeared on time, to meet the envoy they would escort to Sunagakure. A tall man, his body and head wrapped around with a white robe and a white half face mask just like Kakashi's, leaving only his brown eyes open to the soft breeze. The man didn't say a word, only nodded when they arrived and he remained silent since then. Unfortunately the man was a civilian which would slow down their movement by ages. The trip would be long, it would take at least one week to Suna, through the hot and empty dessert for half of the time, then the same back. Plus the time they will spend in the city while the envoy does his job. The thoughts race through Toroku's mind in a minute, eyeing their mysterious companion. He slowly raised his hands to scratch his forehead, but he stopped his movement when his hands meet cold porcelain instead of his warm skin. He groaned in frustration and moved his hands to detached his mask, but his move was stopped when Jiraiya grasp his hands.
"No touching and you aren't allowed to remove it, not even when you are sleeping. From now on your name goes by your mask."
A pair of angry blue eyes snapped to his face, narrowing to thin lines, but in the end only a displeased groan was his answer from the teen in complete ANBU outfit, without the white surcoat. The teen folded his arms in front of his white vest and turned away from the sannin without further words, who just slowly shook his head.
"Okay team. We are departing."
The three teens nodded and moved toward their companion, positioning them around the envoy. The small group finally stepped over the giant gates of Konoha and disappeared in the woods of the Land of Fire.
Jiraiya eyed Toroku continuously from the background, and a small smile ran across his face when he felt a small amount of chakra, slowly moving toward Kakashi's face under the mask. The silver haired jonin narrowed his eyes and started to scratch his face under the thin textile continuously. The blonde was obviously trying to force that mask down. An annoyed snort left Kakashi and he gave an angry look toward the teen, and covered his face with a thin layer of his own chakra, to separate his skin and dismissing Toroku's own.
"You are childish…"
"No, just curious…" Toroku looked back over his shoulders toward Rin.
"Hey, have you seen his face?" The girl only shrugged with a cheeky smile, which could mean anything and the blond narrowed his eyes with an irritated 'ch'.
He finally turned back and look to his left where he heard a faint, but fast heartbeat as they passed beside a tree. He smiled when his nose picked up the scent of a skulking fox under the bushes. He gently stroke the mask on his face, feeling the fine curves of a longish animal nose and the three freshly painted red curves on each side on its white surface. When he first saw the fox mask in Jiraiya's hands, and he handed over his new clothes, a real animalistic foxy grin appeared on his face, and he couldn't help on his outburst as something forced him out from the back of his mind and made him laugh until his side started to sting like hell. Before he put on the completely white mask, he felt a force and he finally picked up one of his brushes and a red ink, to finish the blank mask. He didn't know why he panted the same marks on the two sides of it, but when he examined it in the end a strange satisfaction ran across his mind. He slowly stroked the painted whiskers once again and rolled his shoulders with a sigh. 'I'm bored to death…'
A cloned popped up next to him and raised an eyebrow at Toroku.
"Are you serious about it?"
"It's worth a try." The blond shrugged, while everyone in the team eyeing him curiously as the clone put his hand above Toroku's extended left palm. The two blonds closed their eyes in their concentration and a small amount of slowly circulating wind appeared between their palms. The wind started to speed up and the small tornado flatten , until it was almost invisible from the side, while it formed a perfect circle from above, however not much bigger than a middle sized shuriken. The clone started to frown, and squeezed his eyelids in concentration.
Kakashi moved his hands up, to uncover his sharingan, examining the progress with the slowly swirling tomoes in his crimson red orb. He saw as the chakra slowly moving from Toroku's left arm, stop for a moment in his wrists, then slowly move inside his palm and sucked out by the small technique from the coils in his palm. The clone let out a small moan, as he mimicked the same process by his own body, adding his own chakra to the small technique. It reached the whirling chakra plate, mixing fire, slowly, step by step into wind, causing it, to glow with an unnatural orange light, just like iron in the oven before a smith started to form a sword. The movement of the wind increased once more, and Toroku narrowed his eyes.
"That's enough, just hold it in that amount." The clone squeezed his teeth and a painful hiss left Toroku's mouth, when the spinning plate wobbled a bit between their palms.
"What are you doing?" Jiraiya asked with a calm tone.
"I'm too occupied to chit-chat…" Toroku hissed between his teeth, and with a light moan they released the technique, which slowly disappeared in the air, leaving behind a faint ozone scent in the air. The clone shook his head, while Toroku examined his red palm, and the blistering that was forming on it.
"We need to work more on this little thing; it needs more precise dosage then the big ones." Toroku narrowed his eyes, and made an approving nod. He let out a sigh and the clone disappeared with a puff of smoke, while he slowly dropped behind to reach Rin with an apologetic smile, who rolled her eyes.
"You should be more careful you know. I'm not always beside you…" She gently placed her hands above his red palm and channeled green chakra into his wound, giving a pleasant cold sensation to his burning skin.
"Could you teach me please Rin-chan?" Kakashi snorted and Jiraiya started to laugh loudly, earning an angry glance from Toroku.
"I don't think that I am the best one to teach you. You are stronger than me."
"Maybe, but my chakra control sucks, and I need a fine tuning to the smaller techniques. And this is something only you could help with. Medical jutsus is the same. Without fine tuning you just smash up everything and I want to be lectured by the possible best." Toroku smiled behind his mask as warmly as he could, eying the blushing girl beside him.
"Please…" Rin smiled and nodded and she felt as pride swarmed up in her spine. Jiraiya smiled gently at the scene.
"Why do you want to even learn smaller techniques? There are a lot of powerful stuff in your arsenal…" Kakashi snorted and crossed his arms behind his neck.
"Power sometimes lay in small forms Kakashi-kun," Jiraiya stated casually and tapped the jonin's head, who answered with a frustrated groan and ran his hand through his silver hair. The blond nodded approvingly.
"That is true that I can be very…deconstructive, but …I need techniques which don't threaten the lives around me, and that is what I lack." Toroku slowly shook his head and let out a weary sigh and turned once more to Rin.
"Soo, will you help me Rin-chan?"
"Of course. Let's see. So fine tuning…" She got lost in her thoughts for a minute and turned toward Toroku.
"You don't have problems with manipulating the nature and the form, and this indicates that the main problem isn't with your direct control, it lays in the amount. Let's see. Which is the less chakra needed technique you can't do properly?"
"Bunshin…" Toroku spit out the word like it was sour poison. He slowly moved his hands together and performed the necessary seals, and a shapeless form appeared beside him only for it to fail the next moment and fall to the ground limply. The blond let out an irritated sigh and the caricature of a human disappeared.
"See? It was totally messed up. It couldn't even stand." Kakashi frowned at the scene and turned his head curiously to Toroku and Rin.
"So, sensei. Where should we start?" Rin blushed again and sent a small smile to the boy.
"As a first step, you should work on that technique." Toroku nodded and moved back to his place. He closed his eyes and around one hundred Toroku appeared behind the small group, walking with them, without a break in their movements. Kakashi raised an eyebrow when he curiously turned around to see the results, but he immediately frowned.
"What are the Kage bunshins for?"
"Just watch." Toroku made a cheeky smile under his mask and Kakashi turned back to the clones to see that they were forming the necessary hand seals. A hundred useless normal bunshins appeared and the small marching army behind them, frowning immediately. Toroku turned toward them and shouted.
"Make four groups, dismiss every fifteen minute!" An arcane of 'Yes boss!' echoed back to the small team and Jiraiya looked at the teen with an amused expression.
"I see now your point." Kakashi glared at Jiraiya with a confused look, and Toroku glared back at the sannin then only shrugged and also started to work on the technique himself. Near the end of the first fifteenth minute one of the clones near the group let out a victorious yelp when a man like clone appeared next to him, wobbling on thin legs. Toroku nodded to the clone, who disappeared in an instant, and the clones made a wondering expression immediately.
"Five minutes delay, until the first group disappears!" The clones nodded and continued. Surprisingly this time almost every new bunshin was able to at least stand.
"I don't get it."
"When a shadow clone dismisses, I gain back every memory. They were originally used for scouting. And with the memories I also gain what they learned. With this, I can compress years of training into weeks. But it also has got its own risks." Toroku explained to Rin carefully, earning a narrowed eye from Kakashi.
"What risks?"
"Not only the memories, but also the exhaustion comes back." The teen only shrugged at Rins worried and narrowed eyes, but the now not so small group walked toward their destination without a word.
After the last group of clones dismissed themselves, Toroku was able to make a normal looking bunshin if you didn't count the faceless head and his soft orange shaded clothes. It could make almost five steps before it wobbled and fell flat on the ground and dismissed itself. Toroku let out a weary sigh and shook his head slowly in his disappointment.
"This is harder than I ever gave it credit for…" Jiraiya moved next to him and tapped his shoulder.
"Don't push yourself more today, or you will also fall flat." Toroku nodded in understanding and stretched his arms behind his head.
"I know, but this annoys me to hell. Man. That is an academy level jutsu."
"No marvel around that. You got too much chakra for fine tuning. Just give up and do what you are good at." Toroku narrowed his eyes as sheer determination appeared in his visible blue orbs. 'As stubborn as Minato. I just had to push the right button in his brain.' Jiraiya smiled and slowly turned toward the others.
"We will make camp in an hour, the Sun has almost set. There will be a nice place for that after this hill." The team nodded. Their stoic and speechless companion in the middle of their group also let out a relieved sigh after the long trip.
Two hours later the camp was ready and a campfire popped cheerfully in the middle, surrounded with sleeping bags. However, only four were occupied as Toroku sat above them on a thick branch, in a nearby tree. He felt a familiar chakra signature approaching the tree and the silver haired jonin sat down next to him without a word a second later.
"You should be sleeping…"
"Toroku-san." The blond raised an eyebrow under his mask at the honorific, waiting for the question he already knew would come after he told the trick of the Kage Bunshin.
"Could you…" Kakashi stopped, looking for the words, but Toroku finished his sentence.
"Teach you the Kage bunshin technique?" Kakashi only nodded. Toroku let out a weary sigh and ran his hands through his blond spiky locks.
"I could, but it won't be too affective to you. You don't have enough chakra to properly use it for training, however it would still be useful for scouting." Kakashi only nodded; he was already aware of that. If he learned it, he wouldn't be able to make more than a maximum of four or five clones.
"But, you can't use your sharingan this time. You will learn it the hard way."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow with confusion, but nodded. Kakashi had already figured out by his previous reactions, and he also caught more than one reference from Minato, that Toroku's sudden appearance was most likely connected with a sharingan user. Toroku rolled his shoulders and pointed toward a small clearing about twenty meters from them. Five clones appeared on the tree, standing in various directions, parallel to the ground and upside down below him. They spread around their sleeping companions while the two teens straightened themselves and Toroku waved toward Jiraija who just raised a hand in approval.
When they returned after an hour, Kakashi was obviously weary, almost falling into his sleeping bag, and more than one scratch could be seen on his skin. But in the end, he managed to make a proper clone. Toroku slowly shook his head and dismissed the clones, then he moved back to his previous place on the branch. He leaned against the rough shuck of the tree and turned his head toward the ink black sky. He always liked to watch the stars and the moon since it always calmed down his nerves and relaxed his mind. He let out a sigh as another presence sat next to him.
"What now? You also want to learn something from me?" Jiraiya snorted and waved his hands.
"No." Toroku nodded, but didn't avert his eyes from the soft glaze of the stars high in the sky. The sannin didn't make a noise for a long moment.
"How are you doing with your bunshins?"
"Not too good, but I don't think this is why you came up here."
"Why did you teach a kinjutsu technique to Kakashi?" Toroku shrugged.
"Because I want them to become strong. Maybe he can't use it for training but it could save his life one day…or Rin's. And I have confidence in him. He is already strong and some day he will became a powerful and elite shinobi. He is working very hard even if he didn't show it to the others; he always only displayed his stoic face. I knew something had been bothering him since the time he found out we were going to Suna."
"How much do you know about Kakashi's background?" Toroku slowly shook his head.
"Not too much. He almost never talks about himself, I know schematically what had happened in Iwa, and that he is an orphan, but that is all." He glanced down to Kakashi, listening to his light breathing next to the waving fire.
"His father was the White Fang of Konoha, Hatake Sakumo. A powerful, feared, and respected shinobi. His strength was on the same level as me, one of the three sannins. He was assigned to a mission…and he made a hard decision." The blond raised an eyebrow under his mask and moved his hands to his lap.
"He had chosen the life of his comrades instead of the success of a very important mission which failure caused a lot of trouble for Fire country. After he abandoned that mission to save his comrades lifes, he was blamed for the effects, even by his own companions whose lives were saved by him. The ninja turned away from him, disgraced him, spit at him…He broke by the pressure and he committed suicide…" Toroku felt as his mouth fell open without a sound.
"After that, Kakashi worshipped the rules and regulations of the shinobi world, he became emotionless and worked only to wash down the shame of the Hatake name. That mission was in Suna…" Jiraiya scratched his arm and yawned.
"However…something changed him in after their team mates died. But I don't know what had happened there, Minato doesn't want to talk about that."
"I know what caused that…At least I think I know." Toroku let out a sigh.
"When we returned from Kumo, he told me something when I…when I was down. I don't know the details, but it seems the Uchiha kid made a great impression on him, if he was able to make a one hundred and eighty degree turn." Jiraiya nodded and locked his eyes on the blond.
"What do you think about your own situation?"
Toroku blinked at the unexpected and sudden question and turned his head toward the sage, grasping his mask with a hand, waiting for his companion's reaction. Jiraiya only nodded his approval to remove the mask and he gratefully pushed it up to his crown to rub his weary eyes. He got a ration bar from one of his pockets and started to chew it absently. He wasn't hungry, but he need time to gather his own thoughts. The sannin curiously, but not suspiciously, eyed his blue orbs, patiently waiting for his reply. The teen finally put down the remains of his food into his lap and leaned forward, away from the rough tree, but didn't make connection with Jiraiya's eyes.
"I know you are here to stop me, if…I go rogue…And this mean you are strong…Maybe I sometimes play the idiot but I'm not stupid. I know…I know that maybe I'm an assassin or a spy, or hell knows what… I was…" He let out a weary sigh and finally moved his almost glowing cerulean eyes toward Jiraiya.
"But I also hope and think if I am really one, if I regain my memories I won't lost my current self." Toroku slowly shook his head and let out a long sigh and he glanced down to the sleeping forms of his comrades.
"I don't want to hurt Minato, Kushina, the brats down there or anyone else. I just want to protect those who are precious to me…" He let a small smile run across his face and he turned back at Jiraiya.
"And you? What are you thinking of my situation?" Jiraiya chuckled and waved a hand.
"I got my own assumption about you, brat." Toroku rolled his eyes, patiently waiting for Jiraiya to open his mouth.
"I read the reports about you…"
"And? Anything interesting?" Jiraiya rolled his eyes before he answered.
"It told me that you got some…flashbacks." The teen only shrugged.
"Not always, sometimes if I saw something or hear something, and they aren't real pictures. Not memories. A feeling. Like a déjà vu, or something like that. When you know something already happened to you, feel familiar, or sometimes I feel emotions."
"Nagato…" Jiraiya stated calmly his eyes shined with curiosity, while the teen's face mirrored confusion as he glanced back to the sannin, then his eye twitched as a feeling slowly started to rise in his mind, only to be swept out in the next blink.
"Anything about that?" Toroku narrowed his eyes, and gave a wondering face.
"Something popped up, but it was gone…respect? Dunno. It was there a moment ago, but now it is gone without a trace within a blink and I'm not sure what was it."
"Who is this Nagato?" The teen scratched the back of his head and frowned in frustration and waited for any further explanations , but when nothing came he let out another sigh, slowly turning toward the white haired man with a serious look.
"Jiraiya…"
"What brat?"
"Can I ask you a favor?" The sannin raised an eyebrow, but he nodded.
"Promise me…If…If things go wrong and I lost myself…please don't let me harm anybody." The sannin stayed in complete silence, watching the teen seriously, waiting for his determination to fall down, but it didn't come. His azure eyes stayed calm and solemn.
"I will be quick and merciful Gaki. I promise."
"How generous of you." Toroku chuckled dry and sent a soft smile to Jiraiya, but he stayed serious. For minutes none of them talked, they just sat beside each other, listening to the voices of nature around them.
"Hey old man, go back to rest. I won't drag you along the way to Suna if you drop with fatigue."
Jiraiya snorted and tried to slap his palm to the back of Toroku's head, but he leaned away from it, and chuckled softly at the playful attempt. He felt a sudden Déjà vu run across his mind and a soft smile spread across his face when he looked again at the sannin.
"You are really an interesting young man Toroku-kun…and a very troublesome cocky little brat." Toroku only chuckled, but Jiraiya finally dropped himself down to the ground and moved to occupy his sleeping bag and this time, fall into deep sleep.
"I will relieve you in four hours shrimp." The teen only nodded and turned his head again toward the sky, to spot the glowing Vesper again.
Author's Note:
Creating bonds…gaining trusts…Sorry for the teasing, but it is necessary. You will soon understand why.
I would like to ask a great applause for my new Beta reader. She done a fantastic work to bear my wonky language knowledge and pinpoint some mistakes. So big applause for ImaginationJunkie1412. Hopefully in the future we could set back to a more scheduled and oftener update just like in the beginning.
Story recommendations:
When Leaves Fall by Prosthetic Forehead – Everybody loves time travel stories this is why you are here. One of my newest favorite fic with Naruto travelling back in time when Minato was still alive.
Steal My Thunder God by Nauro – One more new time travel fic, where Naruto travelled back to the night of the Kyuubi attack.
The Hokage Great and Terrible by lord of the land of fire -What if someone other than Namikaze Minato had been chosen to be the Yondaime? Things might have worked out very, very differently. AU, a bit dark and a bit tragic. A little Naru X Hina – One of my favorite AU story. It's really dark, but beautifully written.
Enjoy and give as much support to the authors as I had received from you.
Reviews are welcome :)